My review of the Rustoleum Countertop Transformation Kit

Why I chose to use the Rustoleum Counter Top Transformation Kit

Hi everyone, I wanted to change my Kitchen counter top because I was doing a general home improvement on the whole kitchen and the kitchen had some tile backs plash that didn't go with anything in the house and I frankly, thought it was ugly...I considered painting the tile, replacing the tile and because I didn't have a lot of money I decided to work with the color and create a kitchen that would work with the tile color...So I painted the walls, painted the cabinets (with a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation Kit), and redo the counter tops.. So I spent weeks trying to pick the right wall colors and cabinet color and finally got down to doing the counter tops!

I debated about what do to with the counter tops....thought about replacing them but we didn't really want to spend that kind of money so I started investigating other ways to change them. I looked at websites that showed how to paint them to look like marble and stuff and to me it just left a lot to be desired...Then I looked at the Rustoleum Counter Top Transformation Kit. I went to the hardware store where I knew they had the kits and I read the box many times...I even went back on another day and read it again...I was trying to decide if it was something I thought I could accomplish because once you do it you can't undo it!! I knew I would be stuck with it even if I totally screwed it up...I had to get up my courage first hahaha.

The After Picture

This is a picture AFTER I used the transformation kit, very shiny as you can see! | Source

The Kit. They have a couple other color choices. I chose Desert sand. | Source

Tips and process description

The kit comes with a video and believe me you need to watch it! I watched it several times and also went on youtube and watched videos of other people using it.. I can't stress enough the need to follow the instructions!! And one thing I did NOT do that I wish I had is to use 2 people for parts of the process...the instructions tell you to have help but I didn't have anyone there to help so I bypassed this instruction and I learned that you really shouldn't bypass it.

You have to sand the counter with the provided tool(s) and this can take several hours, maybe if you are younger than me it won't take you as long but I am 51 and I weigh about 105 pounds so my muscles are lacking and my arms got tired lol. First I covered the cabinets, stove, sink and anything else I could with plastic...This too is an important instruction because this stuff flies all over the place. If you neglect to cover your sink you are going to need a plumber when you are done because your drain will be full of chips!!! It took me most of the day to sand the counters to what I thought was adequate and by the time I got it all vacuumed up I decided to quit for the day..

Please note that I don't have beginning progress pictures because there are parts of this process that are time sensitive and you don't really want to be stopping to take progress pictures...If things dry to much before you continue you will be very sorry and it takes only a matter of minutes to get past that point.

After you cover other items with plastic, sand your counters and vacuum up all the dust then you apply the adhesive base coat...(you do this with the rollers and brushes you buy to use the kit). First you need to get someone that will help with this process because if you don't you will be disappointed in the results. Please adhere to this warning!!!!...Do areas that the roller won't fit into first! I repeat do those first and only work in a small area at a time because you have to get the colored chips down quickly. While one person is putting on the adhesive base coat the other person needs to be going right behind the first putting down the chips! The kit provides a chip spreader tool but I found for many areas I used my hand instead because trust me the chips fly everywhere!! I still have chips in between the counter and stove that I will never get out unless I move the stove out. I found the base coat to be much thinner than I had expected by the description in the video. I was very surprised that it wasn't thicker and felt thicker would have been better but I was already going to I had to finish.

So while you are working quickly putting on the base coat and your helper is spreading the color chips...the kit provides a bottle of stuff that you may have to spray if the base coat dries too fast and the chips don't stick. Make sure the color chips are put on heavily!! There are plenty of chips to do this and you will be sorry if you don't. I am putting a pic on here of how it looks after the chips are spread onto the counter.. Now don't do anything else!! Everything has to just sit for the amount of time specified in the instructions. I think it was like 24 hours.

After base coat and chips are applied!

this is in mid process...after the base coat and chips are applied | Source

After the chips have dried

Ok...so I have waited the recommended amount of time since I applied the chips and now comes the true test....I have to remove the loose chips to reveal how well the chips really adhered to the counter top. There is a tool in the kit that you use to loosen the chips so you can remove them easier...you don't want any partially adhered chips because those will eventually become a problem. So you use the scraping tool, vacuum up all the loose chips and carefully inspect the counter to see if there are any spots where the chips didn't stick. I used small brushes and even q-tips to reapply some base coat and then reapply more chips to the area and then I worked on other areas while waiting for that to dry again. This is where having that second person in the previous process is important because you can get the chips down much faster so you will have to do less in this step as you won't have as many spots that didn't stick..

For the sake of this hub I won't go into detail of how many times I had to fix bare spots but trust me....it took a while because I didn't use that second person in the previous step as instructed lol I like to think I can do things myself and most times I can but I should have complied haha

Once all areas of the counter top are completely covered with the color chips and completely dried it is time to start sanding...(oh no not again)! I sanded and sanded but you have to be careful because along edges, corners and areas like that you can actually sand too much and then you have to back up to the previous step AGAIN! (which I did in a few places) The sanding process takes quite a while too... they have a guide in the box as to how much you should sand and I was out to achieve that but had to end up realizing that in order to completely achieve that I would be sanding off all the chips! Don't get too stressed if yours isn't as smooth as the guide in the box because I actually like it better the way it is...

Once it's all sanded again you need to vacuum....then clean the area as instructed and let dry, then clean it again following the instructions and let dry...You do this until there is no residual dust or film left on the counter....

After the sanding is done

After the second sanding | Source

After the second sanding | Source

OK...heading for the finish line!!!

Now it's time to get this counter done!! I haven't been able to use my kitchen counter for days now and it makes it impossible to cook because the stove and sink are both covered in plastic! So let's get this thing done!!!

Now I have to apply the top coat using the roller that I bought as instructed by the directions in the kit. I also use a brush for areas the roller can't get into. I found that this part of the process can leave tiny raised areas which are actually tiny bubbles in the top coat caused when you apply it...I don't know if there's any way to avoid them but it's not enough to really bother me anyway.

Again, work in a small area at a time and apply the top coat according to the instructions...it can be a little hard to tell where you have applied it and where you haven't as it starts to dry so try real hard to make sure you get every bit of an area covered before moving on because if you try to re-roll an area it will mess it up because the top coat gets tacky and that only makes a horrid mess when re-rolled.

After the entire counter has the top coat on it guess what??...Yep...time to wait again! You can't put anything on the counter for I think it was 24-48 hours and then only small items with no weight to them for about a week total... At least the counter will be clean and uncluttered lol

After the instructed time has gone by start using the counter just like before...I know where my errors are and I see them but no one else sees them so that works for me!! I am so glad that I used the Rustoleum counter top transformation kit and now wish I had done it sooner. I like it so much that I decided to do my bathroom counter too!! I just love it and it looks so much better than the old stained counter that I saw before that has probably been in this house since the 50's. A new counter for 70.00 bucks!! I bought my kit when it was on sale!

I fully recommend this kit to anyone but strongly advice that you watch video tutorials and make sure you have that helper for the base coating/ chip spreading process. I would use this product again with confidence!! I also have used the Rustoleum cabinet transformation kits too but that is for a different page.

If you are considering trying this product I hope you have great success!!! See my before and after Pictures!!

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